With the fresh batch of newly released e-mails regarding the Clinton Foundation, thanks to a Judicial Watch lawsuit, came new revelations of strong connections with the Hillary Clinton State Department. The e-mails added more fuel to the accusations that foundation donors “paid-to-play.” Donors such as S. Daniel Abraham, the man behind Slim Fast, and the Crown Prince of Bahrain got special meetings with the Clinton through her top aide. Even with these startling new details CBS Evening News failed to report them Monday.
Instead of focusing on the new revelations, CBS chose to focus on the nearly 15,000 new Clinton e-mails discovered by the State Department. The content of those e-mails had yet to be released, which makes them an easy topic to report. Fill-in anchor Maurice DuBois mocked the situation, saying, “Now to the presidential campaign. It seems every time Hillary Clinton tries to delete the e-mail issue it winds up back in her inbox.”
But ABC seemed to take it a little bit more seriously. “In this e-mail, foundation aide Doug Band asks top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin to set up a meaning with a major donor,” reported David Wright on World News Tonight, “The Crown Prince of Bahrain, calling him, quote, “a good friend of ours.” Abedin scheduled the meeting.”
NBC’s resident Hillary Clinton fangirl, Andrea Mitchell, reported something similar on NBC Nightly News. “But it comes as newly released Clinton e-mails from conservative watch dog, Judicial Watch, shows some big foundation donors got access to Clinton through her top aide Huma Abedin,” Mitchell admitted, “Example, former Slim Fast tycoon S. Daniel Abraham, who donated millions to the Clinton Foundation got a meeting with Clinton right after asking Abedin.”
Mitchell seemed to defend Clinton and the foundation by noting, “Defenders point out that the charity has improved the lives of millions.” She also touted an attack at Donald Trump by Clinton’s running mate Tim Kaine:
MITCHELL: Clinton running mate Tim Kaine turning the charge back against Trump.
TIM KAINE: Before you go about attacking a charity, why don't you come clean about your own business dealings.
Transcripts below:
<<<Click on the image below to help us with your tax-deductible gift>>>
<<<Thank you for your support!>>>
CBS
Evening News
August 22, 2016
6:35:15 PM EasternMAURICE DUBOIS: Now to the presidential campaign. It seems every time Hillary Clinton tries to delete the e-mail issue it winds up back in her inbox. Today we learned the FBI investigation uncovered nearly 15,000 e-mails from her time as secretary of state that were not among 30,000 she turned over in 2014. Here's Nancy Cordes.
[Cuts to video]
NANCY CORDES: Clinton has always insisted that her lawyers carefully combed through everything on her private server.
HILLARY CLINTON: I responded right away and provided all my e-mails that could possibly be work related.
CORDES: But now Justice Department lawyers say they have given the State Department 14,900 e-mails and documents Clinton did not hand over. State department spokesman Mark Toner:
MARK TONER: We still don't have a firm sense of how many of these 14,900 are new, that haven't seen before. Granted, that's a healthy number there, so there’s likely to be quite a few.
CORDES: Clinton campaign aides say they are not sure what is in the documents, but support all her work-related e-mail being released as a federal judge has ordered in response to a suit alleging Clinton used the server to skirt public records laws. FBI Director James Comey first indicated last month that his agents had recovered new material from Clinton's server, but he said there was no evidence it was deliberately withheld by Clinton's lawyers.
JAMES COMEY: It's highly likely that their search missed some work related e-mails and that we later found them, for example, in the mailboxes of other officials, or in the slack space of a server.
[Cuts back to live]
CORDES: Clinton told the FBI that Colin Powell advised her to follow his lead and use a private e-mail account as secretary of state. Powell told People magazine he doesn't remember that conversation. Maurice, tonight a source with knowledge of Clinton's FBI interview tells CBS News that she was not the one who brought up Powell’s involvement. She was asked about it by agents who had seen e-mails between the two.
...
NBC
Nightly News
August 22, 2016
7:08:18 PM EasternLESTER HOLT: Meantime, Hillary Clinton is facing fresh heat on a pair of familiar fronts. There are new questions about the Clinton foundation, as Donald Trump demands it be shut down and Bill Clinton says he'll step down from the board and stop raising money if his wife gets elected president.
All of it coming as the Clintons emails resurfaced and Colin Powell pushes back on what she reportedly told the FBI. Andrea Mitchell has it all covered.
[Cuts to video]
ANDREA MITCHELL: Tonight with controversy over the Clinton Foundation growing, in a stunning reversal Bill Clinton announcing if his wife is elected he will step down from the board and will no longer raise funds for it. This has Donald Trump issuing new charges of pay for play against the foundation.
DONALD TRUMP: Number one they should shut it down, number two they should give the money back.
MITCHELL: Clinton running mate Tim Kaine turning the charge back against Trump.
TIM KAINE: Before you go about attacking a charity, why don't you come clean about your own business dealings.
MITCHELL: But it comes as newly released Clinton e-mails from conservative watch dog, Judicial Watch, shows some big foundation donors got access to Clinton through her top aid Huma Abedin. Example, former Slim Fast tycoon S. Daniel Abraham, who donated millions to the Clinton Foundation got a meeting with Clinton right after asking Abedin. Defenders point out that the charity has improved the lives of millions.
ED RENDELL It's important that the work of the foundation go on. But I think it’s important for perception that the Clintons not have anything directly to do with the foundation, and certainly don't know who the donors are.
MITCHELL: Clinton also under fire tonight from Colin Powell after she told the FBI he recommended she use personal emails. Powell now telling People magazine, “her people have been trying to pin it on me.” Powell telling NBC News, Clinton had set up her personal email account long before he ever wrote to her and he never had a server at his home.
All this as Clinton fights the perception, she is not trust worthy.
ABC
World News Tonight
August 22, 2016
6:34:35 PM Eastern...
Also today, new questions about the ties between the Clinton State Department and the Clinton Foundation.
HILLARY CLINTON: There is absolutely no connection between anything that I did as secretary of state and the Clinton Foundation.
WRIGHT: But new e-mails released today suggest big money donors to the foundation got expedited access to the secretary of state. In this e-mail, foundation aide Doug Band asks top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin to set up a meaning with a major donor. The Crown Prince of Bahrain, calling him, quote, “a good friend of ours.” Abedin scheduled the meeting. The Clinton Foundation recently announced they will no longer accept money from foreign governments or corporations, if Hillary Clinton becomes president.
...
